Question

The units we use to measure the sound intensity level are _____.

Answer 1

Answer:

decibels (dB)

Explanation:

The sound intensity level is a quantity derived from the sound intensity.

The intensity of a wave is defined as the power of the source of the wave divided by the area through which the power of the wave is spread, mathematically:

$I=\frac{P}{A}$

where

P is the power of the source

$A=4\pi r^2$ is the surface area over which the wave spreads (assuming that the wave propagates in all directions, it corresponds to the surface area of a sphere of radius $r$, where r is the distance between the source of the wave and the observer)

For sound waves, the intensity is often expressed using another unit, called decibel (dB), defined as follows:

$\beta(dB)=10Log_{10}(\frac{I}{I_0})$

where

$\beta$ is the sound intensity level in decibels

I is the intensity of the sound wave

$I_0=1\cdot 10^{-12} W/m^2$ is the threshold intensity of a sound that a person can normally hear.